April 7, 2009
How do you start in retail sales?
baby c asked:
I was in a couple interviews and they all were looking for work experience. I don’t have any, but i want to start, how and where do i start?
Gladys
I was in a couple interviews and they all were looking for work experience. I don’t have any, but i want to start, how and where do i start?
Gladys
Everyone has sales experience, whether they know it or not. You have to go into those interviews and sell yourself. If you can’t do that study up on it. Look up Zig Ziglar and the book How to win friends and influence people. Then go back the interviews and see what happens.
PS. The above are two different things.. not one book by Zig.
Tell them this is your first job, but you are very eager to get some experience under your belt. Tell them about positive qualities of yourself and why you think you’d be good.
Examples
Good communication skills
Work well with others
Diligent with work
Friendly with customers
Selling personality
Keep applying to the shops you like and soon enough one of them will bring you on without any experience.
When you lack experience you should bring other important attributes to the table. Retail managers look for friendly, outgoing, and energetic people to work their stores.
In your interviews you should convey those items. If you are really passionate about the job it should come through during your interview and you WILL get hired.
Good Luck
Just to piggyback off of the other answers. Make sure you are dressed to the nines’ for your interview. You want to make sure you dress appropriately for the store that you are interviewing for. You should be familiar with their product (ie Gap or Old Navy products). If you are a big fan of their clothes let them know!
I used to be in your shoes and I had the same concerns. I didn’t have any job experience, but I wanted a job at the mall so bad. I ended up finding a store (victoria’s secret) that was closing their small store and opening up a larger one at the mall and they needed extra help. I applied kind of on a whim, but landed an interview. I dressed really nice, showed up about 10 minutes early (early but not too early), and was very friendly (but not fake). I ended up getting one of the positions. And also don’t be afraid to express that you’re a quick learner and all that other positive stuff mentioned above. Bottom line, don’t necessarily try to find a job at a store you already shop at. I never shopped at VS before I worked there. After you get experience, you have a better opportunity to find somewhere you like better. And try to find a store that may be expanding because they’ll be more willing to hire someone with limited or no experience. Hope I helped!! Good luck!